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Hey y'all! I'm a new player who is gradually building a CSM - Nurgle army based off of gameplay videos and forums that I've read online (https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Chaos_Space_Marines(7E)). I'm really looking for feedback to help me with my points (should it be 1500, 1500, 1800, etc?), as well as everything else: Consensus on combi-weapons for champs? Other weapons? Plague marines + plasmas or meltas? Rhino extras? Nurgle lord on bike & spawn cheesiness?

ALSO! If my math is off, please correct me. I have only been using the CSM book + Crimson Slaughter (for Daemonheart), so I'm confident in my calculations, but not 100%.

HQ
Lord ('cheese'star) - Sigil of Corruption, Mark of Nurgle, Gift of Mutation, Lightning Claw, Power Fist, Bike, Blight Grenades, Daemonheart 195

Nurgle Daemon Prince - Sigil of Corruption, Black Mace, Power Armour, Wings - 290

Troops
6x plague Marines w. 2x Plasma
1x Champ w. Combi-plasma 208

6x plague Marines w. 2x Plasma
1x Champ w. Combi-plasma 208

Fast Attack
4x Spawn w Mark of Nurgle 144

2x Heldrake 240

Heavy Support
2x Obliterators w Mark of Nurgle 152

Vehicles
2x Chaos Rhinos w Havoc, Dozer Blade 104

Yes your math has some issues.

1. The Bike-Lord should be 210.
2. 2 Heldrakes is 340 points, not 240
3. Your Daemon Prince can't take a Sigil of Corruption (plus he's already got a 5+ invulnerable save from being a Daemon so it's not that useful anyways). So you can cut 25 points from him.

Suggestions:
1. Cut the 2nd Heldrake that you did the points wrong for. This will give you 70 points back. By also cutting the illegal Sigil of Corruption on your prince, you can make him a Level 3 Psyker with a Spell Familiar. A Daemon Prince becomes way better when he can buff himself. Biomancy is fantastic.

2. You may struggle against a heavy vehicle list, so you may find having Meltaguns more useful on the Plague Marines. That's my preference, but lots of people like Plasma on them, so try both and see which you prefer.

3. Havoc Launchers are usually disappointing and not worth 12 points on the fragile rhinos. They're likely going to be the first things popped. This is a good place to start if you're cutting points. Dirge Casters can be useful to prevent overwatch if you get it in position.

With these updates I'm looking at 1537 points. Is this a comfortable place to be? Should I be shooting lower for 1500? Higher for 1850?

When I start playing/testing, then I'll make a decision about meltas vs plasmas. Here's what it looks like with your other updates/corrections:

HQ
Lord ('cheese'star) - Sigil of Corruption, Mark of Nurgle, Gift of Mutation, Lightning Claw, Power Fist, Bike, Blight Grenades, Daemonheart 210

Nurgle Daemon Prince - Black Mace, Power Armour, Wings + Psycher lvl3 & Spell Familiar 355

Troops
6x plague Marines w. 2x Plasma
1x Champ w. Combi-plasma 208

6x plague Marines w. 2x Plasma
1x Champ w. Combi-plasma 208

Fast Attack
4x Spawn w Mark of Nurgle 144

1x Heldrake 170

Heavy Support
2x Obliterators w Mark of Nurgle 152

Vehicles
2x Chaos Rhinos w Dirge Caster, Dozer Blade 90

Most people want to play at specific values. 1500 is pretty common, 1850 is very common for tournaments, and 2000 seems to be where my club plays more pick up games. I'd shoot for putting your list at 1500 (meaning not a point over). You can probably lose the Dirge Casters for 10 points, the Gift of Mutation on the Lord for another 10, and then the 2 Combi-Weapons for another 20 putting you at 1497. You can cut whatever you want, but those seem the least painful.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
When you're ready to bump up to a higher level figure out what you want to add next. I made my first army "modular" so I could take out pieces to reach different levels.

Some future things to think about would be Daemon allies (Heralds of Nurgle and Plaguebearers are fairly cheap and add some more resilient elements as well as keeping it thematic). You could do a stronger fire-base with more oblits or some Havocs. Also Nurgle Bikers are fairly good. I'm a big fan of Maulerfiends, though they sometimes get punked out pretty fast depending on your opponent.

maybe try this:

HQ
Lord ('cheese'star) - Sigil of Corruption, Mark of Nurgle, Gift of Mutation, Lightning Claw, Power Fist, Bike, Blight Grenades, Daemonheart, MB 215

Nurgle Daemon Prince - Power Armour, Wings + Psycher lvl3 & Spell Familiar 310

Troops
6x plague Marines w. 2x Plasma -208
1x Champ w/ combi plasma

6x plague Marines w. 2x Plasma -208
1x Champ w/ combi plasma

Fast Attack
4x Spawn w Mark of Nurgle 144

1x Heldrake 170

Heavy Support
2x Obliterators w Mark of Nurgle 152

Vehicles
2x Chaos Rhinos w Dozer Blade, dirge caster 90

1497pts

Thanks for all the feedback! I'm going to finish building my army and then I'll start playtesting these, and will post feedback about how they play out.